This planet craft is a lot of fun for preschoolers (and older kids too!). And the final product is beautiful and marbled just like the real planets might look like in space!
What make it more fun is that each planet looks different from the next- you never know what design will show up when you pull your paper out of the paint!
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Here’s how to make these beautiful marbled planets to help teach your kids about the solar system!
Space Craft: Make Your Own Marbled Planets
What you Need to Make this Marbled Planet Craft:
Liquid starch
watered down acrylic paints in various colors
white paper cut in circles
Glass or ceramic pie plate
Droppers (or you could use paint brushes to drip the paint)
optional: paint smocks or old t-shirts to protect clothes
How to Make the Planets:
Pour enough starch in the pie plate to cover the bottom.
Drop the paint in to the starch in a random pattern.
Swirl the colors by blowing or stirring with a craft stick
Gently place the paper circles into the painted starch and let sit about 30 seconds.
Slowly peel the paper circle off of the starch and place your marbled planet somewhere safe to dry. The starch can make your planets stick to surfaces so make sure you move them every now and then as they dry.
Once your planets are dry you can place them under a heavy book to flatten out.
How to Display Your Marbled Planets
Kids love to display their artwork, and this planet craft is beautiful to display. Here are a couple ideas of what you can do with them:
Glue the finished marbled planets on black paper so it looks like they are in space! Your child could also decorate the black paper with stars, galaxies, or constellations if they want. Use white crayons or glitter and glue to decorate outer space.
Make a frame or matte out of black card stock and place it over the planets.
Make multiple planets- or all of them! – and create a mobile or poster of the entire solar system. This is great for helping kids learn the planets and what they look like.
Remember to let the kids make this craft their own! Each planet can turn out differently and it’s okay. While can limit their paint options to the colors you want (to make an accurate planet representation), allow them to put as much or as little paint as they want.
Once the planets are done, they may wish to make up their own color scheme to create their own unique planet!
Remember the process is more important than the final outcome when it comes to doing crafts with kids. You can read more on that here: The Right Way to Do Crafts with Kids.
You may also like to print out these Solar System Coloring Pages to go along with this marbled planet craft!
Looking for more space themed crafts? Check out these 17 fun space crafts for preschoolers. Or make this collage of the Earth!
